Julia Benton

Paly's wrestling team placed 11th in the annual Mid Cal Invitational at Gilroy High School. Although the team overall has had a few disappointments at various invitationals, it hopes for a memorable top-three performance at CCS finals.

With the last match of the night determining the outcome of the meet, the Palo Alto High School wrestling team managed to defeat cross-town rival Henry M. Gunn High School 35-31 on Feb. 5.

"It was a very close meet," head coach Dave Duran said. "Some things went the way we wanted them to go, and some things definitely didn't, but the other team was in the same boat as us. Junior Max Simon was our wrestler in our last match, and he managed to win and did a great job."

Another key wrestler in the meet was freshman Ryan Oshima, who faced a challenging opponent, but eventually came away victorious.

"Ryan Oshima did particularly well," Duran said. "He managed to beat a senior who is a top 10 wrestler in CCS, which was an upset. He was put on his back during the first period, but managed to get out of it, and he was able to defeat his opponent during the second period of his match."

The Mid Cal Tournament, which took place Jan. 23-24 at Gilroy High School, also proved to be successful for the Paly wrestling team. Paly placed 11th out of 66 schools, one of the best finishes the team has had in a long time.

"Mid Cal is tougher than CCS and probably our toughest tournament besides the [Sierra Nevada Invitational] in Reno," Duran said. "Senior captain Patrick Sheehan was our lone champion, but three of our wrestlers all ended up losing the matches that would have placed them in the medal spots."

Although Sheehan won first place in the 160 pound weight class, he was not satisfied with his performance at the Mid Cal tournament.

"I don't think I wrestled well over the whole tournament," Sheehan said. "I was able to get wins, and I managed to upset a wrestler who had beaten me previously in the finals, but there are still things I need to improve. But, it's a pretty big tournament, and I'm glad that I won."

The dual meet against Fremont High School was an easier victory for Paly, with the team winning 43-33.

The Paly wrestlers kept on top of their opponents, only losing a few matches. It was an expected win, according to Sheehan, but the victory was by no means unimportant.

"Fremont is really good," Duran said. "This is the first time in my time here that we beat them — possibly the first time in the entire history of Paly wrestling."

A week prior to the dual meet with Fremont High School, the Paly team competed at the Overfelt Classic and finished 14th out of 38 schools. Both Sheehan, at 160 pounds, and senior Erez Arnon, at 135 pounds, finished in the top three of their respective weight classes.

"Erez Arnon wrestled very well," Duran said. "This is the farthest he's advanced into a tournament, and his third place finish moved him up from 20th to ninth place."

Three other wrestlers, junior Max Simon at 152 pounds, senior Noah Feldstein at 140 pounds and junior Jack Sakai at 130 pounds all managed to win the finals in their consolation brackets after losing in their first rounds.

"Everybody there didn't have great first matches," Duran said. "They faced pretty tough people, but some ended up becoming consolation winners."

Oshima, who had been doing very well in most of his matches, found this tournament to be a disappointment.

"I did not do too well at the Overfelt Tournament," Oshima said. "Going into the tournament, I expected to do better than I did. I had been beating guys in the dual meets and didn't think the competition would be as good as it was."

Sheehan placed second, but considered this to be a risky tournament after two CCS-ranked wrestlers dropped into his weight class from the weight class above him.

"I ended up being third seed in the tournament because of the other two wrestlers," Sheehan said. "But, I was able to upset one of the wrestlers in the semifinals, and I lost a close match to the other one in the finals."

Although only two Paly wrestlers ended up receiving medals at the Overfelt Classic, Sheehan believes that the tournament was beneficial for the athletes.

"We did pretty well," Sheehan said. "Some younger guys are beginning to get more experience, and more of the older guys like Erez Ernon did very well."

The Paly team wrestled against the Los Gatos High School team on Jan. 15. The team went into the meet with a 2-0 dual meet win against both Milpitas High School and Wilcox High School, but Paly lost with a score of 31-39.

"Los Gatos is usually a powerhouse in our league," Sheehan said. "Even though we lost, it was a pretty close dual. We proved that we'll be a power in the coming years."

As the team goes into the last stretch of competition, Sheehan reflects on the past few months.

"So far for this regular season, we've done really well," Sheehan said. "The young guys have gained experience and are doing very well. In years past, we've had disappointments, but this year, we've kept our morale up."

However, Sheehan says that regular season wins are not the highlight for the wrestlers.

"The most important part of the season is the end tournaments, so we'll see how we do there," Sheehan said.

Duran has high hopes for Paly in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League meet and Central Coast Section Championships, which are the final tournaments of the season for most of the wrestlers.

"I think we're going to do well," Duran said. "We're going to send 10 kids to SCVALs and we think that all ten will be able to make it to CCS. We'll have to forfeit some weight classes, but we should be able to finish in the top four without much difficulty."

Sheehan's main focus is on the CIF state finals that take place in Bakersfield on Mar. 6 and 7.

"I expect myself to win leagues and CCS," Sheehan said. "I think I'm ranked first in league and in the top three for CCS, but I want to place in the top eight [at states]."

Oshima, still a freshman, has not placed his expectations as high as Sheehan's and is focusing on trying to make it to CCS.

"I just want to place top six at SCVALs," Oshima said. "This way, I can qualify for CCS. That's been my goal for most of the season."